Nanana’s Buried Treasure: Episode 02-04 Review

The self-proclaimed “master detective” Tensai Ikkyu and her maidservant, Daruku, enter the island school, hot on the trail of the treasure stolen at the end of episode one. They cross paths with Juugo Yama, their suspect, and the trio joins the school’s Adventure Club, tasked with hunting down Nanana’s lost cache. After a puzzle of an initiation they follow a hint from Nanana to their next treasure, where it’s revealed that no one is entirely who they seem to be, Juugo included.

This batch of episodes is a little unstable. Not in terms of the visuals (the animation is outstanding) or the music (good enough to be invisible), but in the writing, which feels improvised and not terribly creative. The ruins are very contrived, the solutions are discovered too quickly, and obstacles are arbitrary. Plot twists in episode four come from every direction and leave me wondering what on earth just happened—and not in a good way. Romantic feelings seem forced and diminish the value of the characters’ strengths. Prophecy enters the picture in a way that will probably, given the depth of the story so far, steal any agency from one of the characters, as well.

Do I like where the show is going? Not particularly. I’m still okay with playing the wait-and-see game, since episode four left itself in a place where some explaining is necessary. The series is currently a juggling act with too many balls in the air, though, and no tricks polished enough to actually wow its audience. Some shows can get away with this, but Nanana’s Buried Treasure hasn’t given me enough reason to trust it yet.